To keeping step with the advances in the electronics field, rapidness is required in a silver halide photographic field. Especially with a sheet light-sensitive material such as a graphic arts light-sensitive material, a light-sensitive material for scanning and an X-ray light-sensitive material, a rapid processing has become more and more necessary. Rapid processing is defined by the total processing time of 20 to 60 seconds from time which the head of a photographic film is inserted into an automatic processor until the time it comes out from a drying unit, having passed through developing, fixing, washing and drying units. Acceleration of transporting speed in an automatic processor for shortening the processing time results in various problems such as deterioration of fixing and drying properties and reduction of Dmax.
It is known that the concentration of thiosulfates may be increased in order to accelerate fixing speed. Further, it is also known and widely practiced to added a water-soluble aluminium compound to a fixing solution in order to harden a layer and improve the drying characteristic. However, the hardening action of the aluminium compounds in turn retards the fixing speed and therefore, it is difficult to make the drying characteristic compatible with the fixing characteristic. Further, such problems exist as smelling of acetic acid and SO.sub.2 gas and the likelihood to corrode the automatic processor because the pH value of the fixing solution has to be kept at a lower level in order to stabilize the aluminium compounds in the fixing solution.
Under such circumstances, there is demanded a processing method in which the fixing speed as well as the drying speed can be accelerated in the rapid processing system.